Equities research analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) will announce $1.04 billion in sales for the current quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Nine analysts have issued estimates for Church & Dwight’s earnings, with the lowest sales estimate coming in at $1.03 billion and the highest estimate coming in at $1.04 billion. Church & Dwight posted sales of $1.01 billion during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year over year growth rate of 3%. The firm is expected to report its next earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd.

On average, analysts expect that Church & Dwight will report full year sales of $4.29 billion for the current fiscal year, with estimates ranging from $4.27 billion to $4.30 billion. For the next fiscal year, analysts anticipate that the firm will post sales of $4.42 billion, with estimates ranging from $4.40 billion to $4.45 billion. Zacks’ sales calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that that provide coverage for Church & Dwight.

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Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 24.80% and a net margin of 13.72%. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS.

CHD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price target on shares of Church & Dwight and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 20th. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Church & Dwight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.09.

CHD stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $64.93. The company had a trading volume of 804,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,556,717. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Church & Dwight has a 1 year low of $44.87 and a 1 year high of $69.49. The stock has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.24.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.2275 per share. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.09%.

In related news, EVP Steven P. Cugine sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.77, for a total transaction of $986,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 37,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,439,277.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $1,072,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,860,230. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,200 shares of company stock valued at $12,472,280 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in Church & Dwight by 559.2% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 711,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,911,000 after purchasing an additional 603,300 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter worth about $1,341,000. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 67.8% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 7,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 243,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,980,000 after buying an additional 26,143 shares during the period. Finally, grace capital purchased a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter worth about $1,646,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.79% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Company Profile

Church & Dwight Co, Inc develops, manufactures, and markets household, personal care, and specialty products. The company operates through three segments: Consumer Domestic, Consumer International, and the Specialty Products Division. It offers baking soda, cat litter, carpet deodorization, and laundry detergent products under the ARM & HAMMER brand; condoms, lubricants, and vibrators TROJAN brand; stain removers, cleaning solutions, laundry detergents, dishwashing detergents, and bleach alternatives under the OXICLEAN brand; battery-operated and manual toothbrushes under the SPINBRUSH brand; home pregnancy and ovulation test kits under the FIRST RESPONSE brand; depilatories under the NAIR brand; oral analgesic products under the ORAJEL brand; laundry detergents under the XTRA brand; gummy dietary supplements under the L'IL CRITTERS and VITAFUSION brands; dry shampoos under the BATISTE brand; and water flossers and replacement showerheads under the WATERPIK brand.